Magical
by Aquawyrm
Summary: When Tom Riddle finds a way to bypass fate and prevent prophecy from having any affect on him, Clockwork finds himself wishing he could "cheat" again, if only to be certain that the terrible future he can see coming would never come to pass...unfortunately, the best he can do is send in the one person qualified to nudge events away from "apocalyptic disaster" and hope it will be en
1. Chapter 1

AN: OK, so, there was a guest who reviewed the note at the end of the FIRST _Magical_ asking for more on this site. And, OK, yeah, I get it - having to go to anther website just for ONE fic is a pain in the butt. So I'm willing to cross-post my stuff. It's going to go up on Ao3 first, though, if that's important to you.

 **Chapter One**

Deep in the Ghost Zone, well past places any sane specter would hesitate to enter without at least a few friends for backup, floats the dome-shaped headquarters of the Council of Observants. According to the Council, they see all and know all, and their decisions are infinitely wise and take into account the well being of the entire Ghost Zone (and, perhaps, the Real World as well). They are, though they themselves would never admit it, very dramatic.

When they order a ghost arrested and brought before them for trial, they dramatically read out a list of past and future crimes before dramatically declaring the prisoner's sentence. When everything is well, they dramatically congratulate one another. When things are...not so well, they dramatically blow everything out of proportion. When they see a true disaster on the horizon? They send a pair of Observants to see Clockwork, the Master of Time, who really _does_ know everything, and they dramatically demand that he _do something_ to fix it.

This story begins with two Observants flying toward Clockwork's lair at their top speed.

* * *

"Clockwork, something terrible has happened!" the Observant on the right shouted, eye bulging, as he and his companion burst through the double doors of the enormous clock tower that their associate called home.

"You can no longer see the actions, past, present, or future, of Tom Marvolo Riddle, or the fate of the world in which he resides," a deep voice stated from the shadows.

"Yes," the Observant on the left said, somewhat calmer than his partner. "We have come—"

"To find out why this is, how to fix it, and what Tom is going to do," Clockwork interrupted.

"Yes," said the Observant on the right, clawed fingers brushing against his cloak, agitatedly.

"You cannot see Tom because he has broken the bonds of his destiny," Clockwork sighed, floating out of the shadows, a grim expression on his weathered face. "He has used forbidden magic ot force himself out of alignment with the time-stream."

"Then he must be destroyed." The Observants spoke in unison, somber.

"That may prove to be difficult," Clockwork said, his unchanged expression somewhat out of place on his chubby cheeked baby face. "I am unable to interfere with him myself, and am barely able to see his future." Using his staff, Clockwork gestured to the circular screen nearest his guests. Somberly, the three ghosts watched as a pale man with red eyes and slit nostrils set in a shockingly nose-less face laughed, high pitched and cold, as he watched figures in skull masks pursue a screaming woman, trying in vain to flee over broken concrete while already limping. In a wash of static, the scene shifted to show the Ghost Zone being invaded by masked wizards and witches on brooms, hexing any ghost unlucky enough to cross their path, the broken remains of the Council Building barely visible in the background.

"How can this be prevented?" one of the Observants demanded, while the other clenched his fists and stared and the view-screen, trembling.

"We must send our own agent who has broken from destiny, a master of his own fate able to ignore prophecy and choose his own path, to oppose Tom." Clockwork turned to face the Observants, his red eyes glowing brightly. "Only Danny Phantom can save us now."

"Are you certain?" an Observant asked, skepticism oozing from his tone and posture. Clockwork only nodded, face, now in his prime, as solemn as ever.

"Very well," the other Observant sighed. "But remember: Danny Phantom is _your_ responsibility, Clockwork. If he fails, or if he turns and joins Tom, the fate of our world will be on _your_ head."

"He will not fail," Clockwork stated confidently, as the Observants departed. "I hope," he whispered, turning away from the door and clutching his staff with both hands as, on the screen, the army of wizards reached his tower, blasting the walls apart with hexes while their master urged them on with madness in his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Alone now, Clockwork took a deep breath before waving his staff at the view-screen in front of him. The visions of impending doom vanished, replaced with a dark bedroom. He took a moment to look at it, noting the discarded boxers on the floor, the overstuffed backpack sitting on the seat of the desk chair, the model rockets and other miniature space craft dangling on wires attached to the ceiling...and the closed door and drawn blackout curtains. Smiling softly, Clockwork turned his attention to the room's lone occupant, who was lying face-down in the bed, one bare foot protruding from beneath the blankets, one arm dangling over the side of the mattress.

"I'm sorry, Danny," Clockwork said to the boy on the screen, "but I need your help, and it can't wait for morning." The smile faded from his lips as the flew forward, through the screen and into Danny's bedroom.

The effect was instantaneous.

Danny flailed upright, a frozen mist pouring from his mouth, his legs passing through the blankets that would have tangled a normal boy into immobility. His eyes glowed green in the darkness, darting from side to side, searching for the threat he had sensed, evan as he snatched a white and green thermos from his bedside table. On noticing Clockwork, he relaxed, sagging where he sat, the ghostly glow fading from his eyes and leaving them a mundane blue.

"Clockwork," he yawned, putting the thermos back on the table and stretching. "Did you _have_ to wake me up at...uh..."

"2:33 AM," Clockwork supplied, not bothering to glance at the alarm clock next to the thermos. "And yes, Danny, I did. You see, I need your help, and time is of the essence."

"Don't you, like, have all the time in the world, or something?" Danny asked, raising one skeptical eyebrow before yawning again.

"Yes...and then again, no," Clockwork replied. "This is an unusual circumstance. You are the only one who can help. If nothing is done...well. Best case scenario, the result would be on par with your worst nightmares. _You_ know the ones."

Danny blanched, all traces of grogginess vanishing in a rush of adrenaline. He stood, somehow managing to look serious and determined while wearing green and white Fenton Pajamas. His human clothing ceased to matter a moment later as, with a flash of light, he became a ghost.

"What do I need to do?" he asked.

"Why don't we take this discussion elsewhere?" Clockwork suggested, opening a portal back to his lair.

"Wait," Danny said, hesitating. "Will I be gone long? Do I need a change of clothes? Can I leave a note for my parents? They're still getting used to the whole 'ghostly hero' thing, even though it's been a year since that whole Disasteroid thing, and they get really worried if they don't know where I am."

"There is no need. I will be returning you to this room, on this night, once you have completed your mission. Your parents won't even know you were gone until after you have come back."

"Awesome," Danny grinned as he floated through the portal, Clockwork following close behind. Once on the other side, Danny turned back to him, still smiling. "So what's this super important mission you've got for me? I've gotta say, it's a surprise for you to come looking for my help."

"As you will come to see, there is very little about this situation that is not surprising in some fashion. Before I tell you about your mission, there are a few things that you need to know about the nature of reality; don't worry, I'll keep it brief, but you do need to have _some_ understanding of what is at stake should you fail." Clockwork adopted a wry tone and added, "slacking off, no matter how tempting, could prove to be a _very bad idea_ while you are gone."

Danny frowned. "I'm not _that_ bad," he said.

Clockwork only chuckled, and began his lecture. "You already know that the Real World, where humans live, and the Ghost Zone, where we are now, are interconnected, and that portals between them can lead anywhere and any _when_."

"Yeah," Danny said, remembering the Infi-map and chasing Vlad Plasmius across time to get it back.

"You also know that alternate time lines are more than just science fiction, and that the future is not as set in stone as some might think," Clockwork continued, nodding toward a battered thermos on a pedestal in one corner.

Danny nodded, blanching again, eyes on the thermos.

"What you do _not_ know," Clockwork said sharply, drawing his attention back to him, "what you _must_ know for this mission, is that the Ghost Zone, the Infinite Realms, is connected to more than one Real World. This," he spread his arms in a gesture indicating the entire Ghost Zone, "is the space between universes. In some worlds, the industrial revolution took place in China, in others, the Axis Powers won the Great War, there are even worlds where _homo sapiens_ went extinct in the stone age. You will be going to one of these other worlds, and things will be _different_. For one, no one will know who Danny Phantom is, because you will have no counterpart there.

"I need you to go to a world filled with wizards and magic. You will be going undercover at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for most of a decade."

"A DECADE?" Danny exploded, ectoplasmic energy sparking green around him. "How am I supposed to explain aging TEN YEARS overnight?"

"I have that handled, you don't need to worry about it," Clockwork said calmly. "I know it's a long time to be away from your own world, but if Voldemort is allowed to continue as he is...it is entirely possible that he and his Death Eaters, his followers, will tear this world apart and, eventually, come here and kill me. My death would...how shall I put this? I keep the different timelines and universes separate from one another. If I were to be destroyed, the entire multiverse would gradually collapse in on itself through the Infinite Realms."

"Oh." Danny's voice was very small. "That...uh...so, I need to go to wizard school, find this Volde-guy and take him down? Do I need to kill him?" He felt a little sick at the thought of ending a human life, even a really, really evil one.

"If you could," Clockwork smiled. "There are a number of wizards who would be perfectly happy to do the deed themselves, though, so it is unlikely that you will have to provide the finishing blow yourself."

"Alright," Danny nodded firmly. "Wizard college, here I come."

"About that..." Clockwork looked almost apologetic. "Hogwarts typically accepts students at the age of eleven. I'll have to age you down about six years so you can get it. It'll only take six seconds."

Danny frowned. "So, in order to save the multiverse, I have to start puberty over again?"

"Essentially."

Danny grimaced. "Alright, bring it."

Clockwork nodded solemnly, then reached out and gently tapped Danny on the head with the tip of his staff. There was a bright flash of light. Danny couldn't see, and he couldn't hear anything past the rushing in his ears; he smelled the sharp ozone tang of energized ectoplasm and tasted the electric citrus flavor of his own ectoplasmic blood. His body felt like it was being stretched while his skin shrunk, so that he might explode like an overripe fruit. He wasn't sure if he screamed or not, he couldn't even tell if his throat was sore because everything hurt equally.

After a six second eternity, the pain stopped and the world vanished.

Clockwork looked down at the unconscious boy on the floor. At ten years, nine months, and eleven days old, he looked sweet, innocent, and vulnerable; even the glow of his ghostly aura had faded somewhat, likely from the pain of having his body forcefully regressed into a form it had never actually taken, his age reduced but his memories untouched. Even his clothing had changed, the famous black and white jumpsuit now a black T-shirt with his D insignia on it and a pair of black jeans, his white hair matching his white sneakers.

Clockwork sighed, then bent down and picked Danny up.

"I hate it when I have to do that," he muttered to himself. Shaking his head, he turned to a nearby view-screen that was displaying a child's bedroom, with bright blue walls and glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the white ceiling; there were several model rockets sitting on the desk, and the small bed had a comforter embroidered with the night sky, several constellations picked out in blue thread. Danny reverted to his human form as soon as they passed through the portal, his pajamas now correctly sized for a child and decorated with stars and comets instead of Jack Fenton's face. Clockwork set him down on the bed, then turned away and floated through the closed door and down the beige hall.

"Spine!" he called out, once he had stopped in the middle of the hall. "I know you're here!"

"That you, Clockwork?" a tenor voice called back.

"It is. I've left Danny in his bed. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to stay and explain the situation to him, so you'll have to give him his cover story yourself." Clockwork opened a portal back to his tower and flew through it before he heard the response, which was exactly what he knew it would be.

"Alright," Spine said, loudly, "I'll make sure the half breed knows what's what when he wakes up."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

When Danny woke up, his entire body ached and felt... _wrong_ , in some way he wasn't able to articulate. His head was too heavy, or maybe his neck was too weak, and when he sat up, his arms were both too long and too short, and everything in the strange room around him was _definitely_ too big.

Then he remembered what happened before he passed out.

"Aauuugh, _Clockwork_ ," he groaned, holding his head and hunching forward on the bed, "that did not _sting_. Getting shocked with electricity _stings_ ; a cat scratch _stings_ , compared to what you just did? _A face full of blood blossoms 'stings a bit'!_ " As he complained about the lack of adequate warning, Danny got louder and louder until he was nearly shouting. He was so worked up that he didn't hear the footsteps coming down the hall, though he did notice his ghost sense go off when the door to the room opened.

Whipping his head around, Danny saw a large man, large in that he was tall and a little bit wide – taller and wider than average, but not nearly as tall or as wide as Jack Fenton, who was easily _seven feet_ tall. The man had black hair and the pale skin that comes of not getting much fresh air or sunlight. He was standing in the doorway, arms crossed, tapping his foot and glowering.

"And _what_ ," the man growled, "would a _half human child_ know about getting a face full of blood blossoms?"

Danny glared right black, completely unintimidated, eyes glowing green in annoyance. "A lot," he replied, "considering that _this_ half human child has _had_ a face full of blood blossoms."

"Oh _really,_ " drawled the man in the doorway who, Danny realized belatedly, was the ghost he had sensed. "In that case, what's more painful than a face full of blood blossoms?"

Danny snorted and rolled his eyes. "Aging backwards six years in six seconds, _duh_."

The ghost stopped frowning. His foot stilled, and his arms fell to his sides. Staring blackly at Danny, he said, "you're seventeen. I don't – how. How did a half breed get into the kind of trouble that leads to _blood blossoms_ and survive to _seventeen_? And why did Clockwork go to the trouble of bringing you in? Surely he had easier options."

"Did he really not tell you what was going on?" Danny asked, raising on eyebrow.

"He told me enough," the ghost said. "You're a danger magnet of a half human from another reality – and I wouldn't believe _that_ if I hadn't heard it from Clockwork himself – and for some reason, he wants _me_ and _Misty_ to be your phantasmal contacts and support team for the duration of whatever it is you'll be doing at _Hogwarts_ , of all places, to take down some Dark Lord who I have _no idea_ why we care about. And no, don't tell me, because I really don't care, either."

Danny sighed. "Well with that attitude, I guess I can see why he didn't give you any more than the bare bones." He threw his hands in the air and shook his head. "And for the record, I think 'danger magnet' is a little bit of an exaggeration. My name's Danny, by the way."

"Well, _Danny,_ " the ghost snorted, scowl back in place, somehow making Danny's name sound like an epithet, "I'm Spine. Second, I've got quite a bit of intel that you'll need if you don't want to stick out like a sore thumb. Misty's going to help you with the wizarding society side of things, and I'm here as technical support. Since it's just you and me for a week or so, let's start with the basics. What kinda wizards have you got in whatever world you came from?"

"Um...we _don't_."

"What." Spine seemed shocked; he'd forgotten to keep scowling again. "If there aren't any wizards to spy on, what do phantasms need to make half breeds for?"

"Er..." Danny flushed. "Nobody _meant_ to make me..." looking down at his – outer space? Cool – jammies, he decided to let Spine draw his own conclusions. This ghost – phantasm? – didn't need to know _anything_ about his parents' Fenton Portal.

"That's," Spine spluttered, "that's _disgusting_ , and I _don't want any details_ , you little abomination!"

Danny's head snapped up, eyes bright enough to tint his entire face green. " _What_ did you just call me?" he hissed, voice echoing even in his human form, ectoblasts unconsciously forming in his half-raised hands.

"I called you what you _are_ ," Spine hissed back, his own eyes starting to glow red as he dropped his hold on his human disguise. "Now, unless you want me to thrash you unconscious and pick up this briefing _later_ , you'll calm down and let me continue."

Danny pulled a deep breath in through his nose, straightening his back and banishing the power from his hands. He narrowed his eyes, and they briefly flashed so bright they felt hot, before he closed them and _forced_ himself calm again. Once he no longer felt like he was about to burst into his ghost form at any moment, he opened them again.

"How about," Danny said in a level voice, "you don't call me any more names, however... _accurate_...you may think they are, and we don't find out exactly who would beat _who_ unconscious. Because I don't know about you, but I usually call it a slow week if I don't get in at least three fights."

"Was that a _threat_?" Spine growled, eyes beginning to glow again.

"It was a _fact_ ," Danny said, voice still level. "One of the reasons I'm _on_ this mission is that I make a _habit_ of picking fights with things that are bigger and meaner and stronger than me, and _kicking their butts_. You don't scare me. I've _fought worse_ , I guarantee. But, we're supposed to be on the same side, so. You don't call me names, I don't break any walls with your face."

Spine seemed a little surprised by Danny's claims.

"Well," he said, coughing into his hand. "Wizards. Wizards are humans with the inborn ability to use magic. I'll be giving you a Chameleon Amulet, a phantasmal artifact that I specialize in making. Now, it's made for, uh, _people_ like you," he said "people" like it really meant "gross stuff" but Danny decided to let it go, Spine _seemed_ to be trying, "so try not to let any humans get their hands on it. It won't do anything to a muggle, that's a normal person, but a wizard's magical power could get supercharged, which, well." He chuckled, "as funny as it is, it'll definitely out you as a half phantasm, and that's game over in this world." Still chuckling, Spine dragged a finger across is throat in an unmistakable gesture.

Danny swallowed hard, suddenly feeling a little more nervous about this mission than he had been.

"You should also know," Spine was still grinning as he spoke, "that you won't be able to use any of your phantasmal abilities while using the amulet; you'll be cut off from your core, the source of your power, because the chameleon amulet works by transmuting your phantasmal power into magical energy. It's not perfect, though. If you can, take it off for an hour or so every other week and bleed off some energy; otherwise, the amulet could get overworked and you could develop a dangerous buildup of unconverted energy. And that," he started to snicker, "could make you really sick."

Danny sighed. "So," he said, "I need to wear the amulet to pretend to be a wizard, but if I don't take it off for about an hour every couple of weeks, I'll start building up ectoplasmic energy in my body and get sick."

"Ectoplasmic?" Spine frowned. "No, phantasmic. You need to use _this_ world's terms or you'll stand out in a bad way. We're phantasms, we use phantasmic energy, we come from Phantasmagoria. Remember that."

"Great, vocabulary homework on the first day," Danny drawled. "Phantasms, phantasmic, Phantasmagoria, got it."

"You had better," Spine said. Then he walked into the room and opened the middle drawer of the desk. He reached in and pulled out a glittering green and gold medallion attached to a knotted leather cord. "This," he held the medallion up, "is the chameleon amulet that you'll be using. It's a real work of art, took me three years to make. Don't loose it, don't break it, you won't be getting another one. If a wizard recognizes it for what it is, you're dead. If a wizard recognizes _you_ for what you are, you're dead."

Spine tossed the amulet to Danny, who caught it in one hand. The leather cord immediately turned into a thin steel chain, and the glimmering gold and green turned to steel as well, flat and colorless. A chill rushed through him, passing from his entire body and into the amulet, before fading to a trickle of cold energy flowing from the center of his chest, where he knew his ectoplasmic core was, and along his arm to where he was touching the amulet. In return, a tingling power flowed back, from the amulet, and through his body. He shivered.

"Good," Spine said, and nodded. "Looks like it's working. I'll leave you to get acquainted with your magic." He started toward the door, then paused. "One last thing; it's 1997. I don't know what year Clockwork pulled you from in your world, but here, it's 1997."

"Thanks," Danny said, absently, staring at the chameleon amulet and focusing on the feel of magic in his body. He barely even noticed when Spine left.


End file.
